Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Book I
Psalms 1–41

Psalm 1

Two Responses to God’s Word

The Way of the Godly Leads to Blessing

The Way of the Ungodly Leads to Destruction

Conclusion

The Heading

1 The words of Ecclesiastes,^[a] David’s son, king in Jerusalem.

The Problem

² “Nothing but vapor,”^[b] Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”

³ What does anyone gain by all his hard work, at which he works hard under the sun? ⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again. ⁶ The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles. ⁷ All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.

⁸ Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.

⁹ Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰ Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us. ¹¹ No one remembers the people who^[c] came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.

Search for a Solution

¹² I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky.^[d] (What a burdensome task^[e] God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) ¹⁴ I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind. ¹⁵ Whatever is crooked cannot be straightened. Whatever is not there cannot be counted.

¹⁶ I thought in my heart, “Look, I have become great and accumulated more wisdom than anyone ruling over Jerusalem before me. My mind^[f] has absorbed so much wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ I applied my heart to understand wisdom and knowledge, madness and stupidity. I realized that this too is chasing the wind. ¹⁸ In fact, with much wisdom comes much frustration.^[g] The more knowledge, the more pain!

²⁹ “Woe to you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape being condemned to hell?

³⁴ “Look, this is why I am sending you prophets, wise men, and experts in the law. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. ³⁵ As a result, you will be held responsible for all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Amen I tell you: All these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will certainly not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”^[a]